CPS 590.4
Auctions &
Combinatorial Auctions
Vincent Conitzer
conitzer@cs.duke.edu
A few different 1-item auction mechanisms
• English auction:
– Each bid must be higher than previous bid
– Last bidder wins, pays last bid
• Japanese auction:
– Price rises, bidders drop out when price is too high
– Last bidder wins at price of last dropout
• Dutch auction:
– Price drops until someone takes the item at that price
• Sealed-bid auctions (direct-revelation mechanisms):
– Each bidder submits a bid in an envelope
– Auctioneer opens the envelopes, highest bid wins
• First-price sealed-bid auction: winner pays own bid
• Second-price sealed bid (or Vickrey) auction: winner pays secondhighest bid
Complementarity and substitutability
• How valuable one item is to a bidder may
depend on whether the bidder possesses
another item
• Items a and b are complementary if v({a, b}) >
v({a}) + v({b})
• E.g.
• Items a and b are substitutes if v({a, b}) <
v({a}) + v({b})
• E.g.
Inefficiency of sequential auctions
• Suppose your valuation function is v( ) =
$200, v( ) = $100, v(
) = $500
• Now suppose that there are two (say, Vickrey)
auctions, the first one for
and the second
one for
• What should you bid in the first auction (for )?
• If you bid $200, you may lose to a bidder who
bids $250, only to find out that you could have
won
for $200
• If you bid anything higher, you may pay more
than $200, only to find out that
sells for
$1000
• Sequential (and parallel) auctions are inefficient
Combinatorial auctions
Simultaneously for sale:
,
,
bid 1
v(
) = $500
bid 2
v(
) = $700
bid 3
v(
) = $300
used in truckload transportation, industrial procurement, radio spectrum allocation, …
The winner determination problem
(WDP)
• Choose a subset A (the accepted bids) of the
bids B,
• to maximize Σb in Avb,
• under the constraint that every item occurs at
most once in A
– This is assuming free disposal, i.e., not everything
needs to be allocated
WDP example
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Items A, B, C, D, E
Bids:
({A, C, D}, 7)
({B, E}, 7)
({C}, 3)
({A, B, C, E}, 9)
({D}, 4)
({A, B, C}, 5)
({B, D}, 5)
• What’s an
optimal
solution?
• How can we
prove it is
optimal?
Price-based argument for optimality
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Items A, B, C, D, E
Bids:
({A, C, D}, 7)
({B, E}, 7)
({C}, 3)
({A, B, C, E}, 9)
({D}, 4)
({A, B, C}, 5)
({B, D}, 5)
• Suppose we create
the following “prices”
for the items:
• p(A) = 0, p(B) = 7,
p(C) = 3, p(D) = 4,
p(E) = 0
• Every bid bids at
most the sum of the
prices of its items, so
we can’t expect to
get more than 14.
Price-based argument does not
always give matching upper bound
•
•
•
•
•
• Clearly can get at most 2
Items A, B, C • If we want to set prices that
sum to 2, there must exist two
Bids:
items whose prices sum to < 2
({A, B}, 2)
• But then there is a bid on those
({B, C}, 2)
two items of value 2
({A, C}, 2)
– (Can set prices that sum to 3, so
that’s an upper bound)
Should not be surprising, since it’s an NPhard problem and we don’t expect short
proofs for negative answers to NP-hard
problems (we don’t expect NP = coNP)
An integer program formulation
• xb equals 1 if bid b is accepted, 0 if it is not
 maximize Σb vbxb
 subject to
 for each item j, Σb: j in b xb ≤ 1
• If each xb can take any value in [0, 1], we say that
bids can be partially accepted
• In this case, this is a linear program that can be
solved in polynomial time
• This requires that
– each item can be divided into fractions
– if a bidder gets a fraction f of each of the items in his bundle,
then this is worth the same fraction f of his value vb for the
bundle
Price-based argument does always
work for partially acceptable bids
•
•
•
•
•
Items A, B, C
Bids:
({A, B}, 2)
({B, C}, 2)
({A, C}, 2)
• Now can get 3, by
accepting half of
each bid
• Put a price of 1 on
each item
General proof that with partially
acceptable bids, prices always
exist to give a matching upper
bound is based on linear
programming duality
Weighted independent set
2
2
3
3
4
2
4
• Choose subset of the vertices with maximum total
weight,
• Constraint: no two vertices can have an edge
between them
• NP-hard (generalizes regular independent set)
The winner determination problem as a
weighted independent set problem
• Each bid is a vertex
• Draw an edge between two vertices if they share an item
bid 2
v(
) = $700
bid 3
v(
) = $300
bid 1
v(
) = $500
• Optimal allocation = maximum weight independent set
• Can model any weighted independent set instance as a CA
winner determination problem (1 item per edge (or clique))
• Weighted independent set is NP-hard, even to solve
approximately [Håstad 96] - hence, so is WDP
– [Sandholm 02] noted that this inapproximability applies to the WDP
Dynamic programming approach
to WDP [Rothkopf et al. 98]
• For every subset S of I, compute w(S) = the
maximum total value that can be obtained
when allocating only items in S
• Then, w(S) = max {maxi vi(S), maxS’: S’ is a subset of
S, and there exists a bid on S’ w(S’) + w(S \ S’)}
• Requires exponential time
Bids on connected sets of items in a tree
• Suppose items are organized in a tree
item B
item A
item C
item E
item F
item G
item D
item H
• Suppose each bid is on a connected set of items
– E.g. {A, B, C, G}, but not {A, B, G}
• Then the WDP can be solved in polynomial time (using
dynamic programming) [Sandholm & Suri 03]
• Tree does not need to be given: can be constructed from the
bids in polynomial time if it exists [Conitzer, Derryberry, Sandholm 04]
• More generally, WDP can also be solved in polynomial time for
graphs of bounded treewidth [Conitzer, Derryberry, Sandholm 04]
– Even further generalization given by [Gottlob, Greco 07]
Maximum weighted matching
(not necessarily on bipartite graphs)
1
4
2
3
3
2
5
4
• Choose subset of the edges with maximum total
weight,
• Constraint: no two edges can share a vertex
• Still solvable in polynomial time
Bids with few items [Rothkopf et al. 98]
• If each bid is on a bundle of at most two items,
• then the winner determination problem can be solved
in polynomial time as a maximum weighted matching
problem
– 3-item example:
Value of highest
bid on {A, B}
item A
Value of
highest bid
on {B, C}
Value of highest
bid on {A}
A’s dummy
item B
Value of
highest bid
on {A, C}
item C
Value of
highest bid
on {B}
Value of
highest bid
on {C}
B’s dummy
C’s dummy
• If each bid is on a bundle of three items, then the
winner determination problem is NP-hard again
Variants [Sandholm et al. 2002]:
combinatorial reverse auction
• In a combinatorial reverse auction (CRA),
the auctioneer seeks to buy a set of
items, and bidders have values for the
different bundles that they may sell the
auctioneer
 minimize Σb vbxb
 subject to
 for each item j, Σb: j in b xb ≥ 1
WDP example (as CRA)
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Items A, B, C, D, E
Bids:
({A, C, D}, 7)
({B, E}, 7)
({C}, 3)
({A, B, C, E}, 9)
({D}, 4)
({A, B, C}, 5)
({B, D}, 5)
Variants:
multi-unit CAs/CRAs
• Multi-unit variants of CAs and CRAs: multiple
units of the same item are for sale/to be
bought, bidders can bid for multiple units
• Let qbj be number of units of item j in bid b, qj
total number of units of j available/demanded
 maximize Σb vbxb
 subject to
 for each item j, Σb qbjxb ≤ qj
 minimize Σb vbxb
 subject to
 for each item j, Σb qbjxb ≥ qj
Multi-unit WDP example
(as CA/CRA)
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Items: 3A, 2B, 4C, 1D, 3E
Bids:
({1A, 1C, 1D}, 7)
({2B, 1E}, 7)
({2C}, 3)
({2A, 1B, 2C, 2E}, 9)
({2D}, 4)
({3A, 1B, 2C}, 5)
({2B, 2D}, 5)
Variants: (multi-unit)
combinatorial exchanges
• Combinatorial exchange (CE): bidders can
simultaneously be buyers and sellers
– Example bid: “If I receive 3 units of A and -5 units of
B (i.e., I have to give up 5 units of B), that is worth
$100 to me.”
 maximize Σb vbxb
 subject to
 for each item j, Σb qb,jxb ≤ 0
CE WDP example
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Bids:
({-1A, -1C, -1D}, -7)
({2B, 1E}, 7)
({2C}, 3)
({-2A, 1B, 2C, -2E}, 9)
({-2D}, -4)
({3A, -1B, -2C}, 5)
({-2B, 2D}, 0)
Variants: no free disposal
• Change all inequalities to equalities
(back to 1-unit CAs) Expressing valuation
functions using bundle bids
• A bidder is single-minded if she only wants
to win one particular bundle
– Usually not the case
• But: one bidder may submit multiple
bundle bids
• Consider again valuation function v( ) =
$200, v( ) = $100, v(
) = $500
• What bundle bids should one place?
• What about: v( ) = $300, v( ) = $200,
v(
) = $400?
Alternative approach:
report entire valuation function
• I.e., every bidder i reports vi(S) for every subset
S of I (the items)
• Winner determination problem:
• Allocate a subset Si of I to each bidder i to
maximize Σivi(Si) (under the constraint that for
i≠j, Si ∩ Sj = Ø)
– This is assuming free disposal, i.e., not everything
needs to be allocated
Exponentially many bundles
• In general, in a combinatorial auction with set of
items I (|I| = m) for sale, a bidder could have a
different valuation for every subset S of I
– Implicit assumption: no externalities (bidder does
not care what the other bidders win)
• Must a bidder communicate 2m values?
– Impractical
– Also difficult for the bidder to evaluate every bundle
• Could require vi(Ø) = 0
– Does not help much
• Could require: if S is a superset of S’, v(S) ≥
v(S’) (free disposal)
– Does not help in terms of number of values
Bidding languages
• Bidding language = a language for expressing valuation
functions
• A good bidding language allows bidders to concisely express
natural valuation functions
• Example: the OR bidding language [Rothkopf et al. 98,
DeMartini et al. 99]
• Bundle-value pairs are ORed together, auctioneer may accept
any number of these pairs (assuming no overlap in items)
• E.g. ({a}, 3) OR ({b, c}, 4) OR ({c, d}, 4) implies
– A value of 3 for {a}
– A value of 4 for {b, c, d}
– A value of 7 for {a, b, c}
• Can we express the valuation function v({a, b}) = v({a}) = v({b})
= 1 using the OR bidding language?
• OR language is good for expressing complementarity, bad for
expressing substitutability
XORs
• If we use XOR instead of OR, that means that only one of the
bundle-value pairs can be accepted
• Can express any valuation function (simply XOR together all
bundles)
• E.g. ({a}, 3) XOR ({b, c}, 4) XOR ({c, d}, 4) implies
– A value of 3 for {a}
– A value of 4 for {b, c, d}
– A value of 4 for {a, b, c}
• Sometimes not very concise
• E.g. suppose that for any S, v(S) = Σs in Sv({s})
– How can this be expressed in the OR language?
– What about the XOR language?
• Can also combine ORs and XORs to get benefits of both [Nisan
00, Sandholm 02]
• E.g. (({a}, 3) XOR ({b, c}, 4)) OR ({c, d}, 4) implies
– A value of 4 for {a, b, c}
– A value of 4 for {b, c, d}
– A value of 7 for {a, c, d}
WDP and bidding languages
• Single-minded bidders bid on only one bundle
– Valuation is v for any subset including that bundle, 0
otherwise
• If we can solve the WDP for single-minded bidders,
we can also solve it for the OR language
– Simply pretend that each bundle-value pair comes from a
different bidder
• We can even use the same algorithm when XORs are
added, using the following trick:
– For bundle-value pairs that are XORed together, add a
dummy item to them [Fujishima et al 99, Nisan 00]
– E.g. ({a}, 3) XOR ({b, c}, 4) becomes ({a, dummy1}, 3) OR
({b, c, dummy1}, 4)
• So, we can focus on single-minded bids